Last Sunday, Simon Busuttil tweeted: “”Isn’t it time for Sunday sermons by party leaders to stop?”

Welcome though his announcement may have been to many, it was, I think, a very revelatory announcement. For it showed that this party leader considers the weekly meeting he has with his party grass roots as a religious event, which is where sermons are made.

A sermon is far from a dialogue. On the contrary, it is an explanation to the faithful of what the Revealed Truth says. It is a top-down message, from the Infinite to the finite, laying down the law, explaining it as it is.

When a party leader considers his weekly meeting with the grassroots as a sermon, he is not expecting any feedback. At best, he is explaining what is immutable and unchanging, and the faithful have no other duty than to listen and to obey.

Maybe this was the wrong choice of phrase, and maybe one need not belabour this unduly. But the re-tooling and the re-engineering that Dr Busuttil must needs operate within his party has all to do with listening, and reflecting on what the grass roots and the country has to tell him and absolutely nothing with any idea he and the leadership with him have a definite idea and intend to ram it down the grass roots’ throats. It was, (remember?) Dr Busuttil’s predecessor who famously used to say that the repeated electoral defeats the party suffered under him was because the party leadership did not explain things well. The sermon approach all over again. The message had not been transmitted properly.

The past months and years of the Nationalist Party have shown the great damage that has been done by leaders intent on laying down the law and refusing to listen until a great amount of people who would otherwise have continued in the party tradition just gave up and (something unthinkable in traditional Maltese politics) switched over to the other side, with all the fuss and scandalous uproar PN created when the die was cast not having the least effect.

All this is not in aid of making a big deal about a catchy phrase, but rather a reflection on the immense task the PN leadership has ahead of it. Whatever other parties, notably Labour under Joe Muscat, do, the aim is not so much to get those votes back or to win a majority next time round, but rather for the PN, a popular party with roots deep in the country’s psyche, to understand, confirm and reiterate its position with regard to the situation as obtaining in Malta now and in the coming years.

As I see it, the PN must understand and deepen what it stands for, what its tradition tells it, and what even its name implies. It is, as I see it, not (just) a question of people and of faces, of front bench and backbench, but also and more importantly about policies and ideals, about responding to the needs and aspirations of the people of Malta and Gozo now and in the coming future.

This implies a whole raft of changes that must be effected. The party cannot live on just a ‘hate Labour (or Joe Muscat)’ plank. That signally did not work and will work even less in the foreseeable future. Even with all the wrong turnings that Muscat has made in the past year or so at the helm, with all the controversies on the gas ship, the IIP issue and the mass migration to ministries and boards of PL card-holders or bill-board personalities, this did not really dent the PL vote, did it?

One area which the PN has repeatedly refused to understand is the concern of many Maltese and acted the ‘sermonising’ way regards the very important issue of what is happening to the country and its people.

To say this is a problem absolutely does not mean giving in to the xenophobic (or loony) fringe, nor to ape Muscat in the push-back rhetoric (then without any substantial act except to blame Europe).

But the dilution of our country and of our people is a fact and only those with their heads buried in the ground (or in sermons) disregard it. We can see what is happening to those who disregard the warnings. As an example, I point at a news item from a news source in the nearest point on the Sicilian shore, Porto Palo, which is actually nearer to Malta than Pozzallo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1h6geuLiTE&feature=youtu.be

This dates from just a few days ago, not more than two or three, and it follows the mass invasion by asylum seekers from Libya and the impact on what was formerly a fishing village.

There is no possibility of mediation between the extremist views of Norman Lowell and the high principled opinions of the PN leadership, but the issue is grave and must be faced. No amount of rhetoric will do, least of all careless talk about push-back by the head of government when he knows he cannot do that.

It is important for the PN to stand for a just and humane treatment of those who (mostly unintentionally) come to Malta and to treat them as human beings who have risked all to get a life free from war and terror.

But it is equally important to know that the mainstream of the Maltese population is alarmed at the inroads taking place in our hitherto homogenous society. It is clear the concern is not just about asylum seekers or boat people but more importantly concern that Malta has become like an open door and whoever wants to come in can do so.

Whole areas in our towns and villages have had their character changed. There are regular networks that funnel people in and somehow filter them in, notwithstanding checks and controls, visas, passports and the like. We have, not today but over the past years, lost control of our country. I doubt if we or anyone knows with any certainty how many or who has come in and who is allowed and who is not allowed. Dr Muscat once famously said there are more than a thousand who have no right to be here, but I do not seem to have heard him update this recently or boast he has sent them back.

The problem is not people of a black colour from Somalia and other war-torn countries. A friend told me there are quite a number of Gaddafi henchmen around and, understanding Arabic as he does, he follows their discussions in bars etc and they apparently speak quite openly.

Another friend was recently given, after a struggle lasting years, the citizenship certificate. In the end, it was just a piece of paper handed over nonchalantly by a civil servant in the most blasé manner. No oath of allegiance, no ceremony involving the flag, nothing. Just hurry up, as there are other people waiting. No examination of knowledge of what democracy is all about and the tradition and history of Malta. Other countries add some knowledge of the local language. Or maybe this was low-key because this friend has been living here for ages, and did not pay €1 million for the passport. Maybe these will get some ceremony with frills on.

When push comes to shove, all these non-Maltese will undoubtedly show their strength. So far, they are not bothering us, we are not bothering them. So far, they have not thrown their political weight around (although in the EP elections Labour targeted foreign residents – something the PN with its ramshackle machine did not do).

But if anything were to happen, can we count on their sticking with us and defending our territorial and sovereign country or will we find them undermining our efforts?

I repeat, this has nothing to do with the Lowell votes. Come to think of it, when Norman Lowell’s 7,000+ votes were distributed, (18th Count), 1,800 votes were wasted, 1,031 votes were transferred to various PN candidates, 1,929 to PL candidates, and famously, 963 to Arnold Cassola.

There is a loony fringe in every country and it comes to the fore in times of stress and threats. There is a xenophobic substratum in our society, mainly because of our centennial insularity, our history as the front line against Islam, our DNA which insists we are Europeans and not Africans. We have seen this fringe becoming mainstream in countries like France and in Greece (on opposite sides), in Britain as well as in Italy. Our situation, as we have repeatedly been told, is far worse, proportionately speaking, than in most other countries (having said that, we are by no means as multicultural as metropolitan London or Birmingham, let alone Brussels).

The PN must learn to face up to this reality and to the concerns, fears and threats felt by the population instead of being rejectionist. After all, its name is Nationalist, is it not? The problem is there and PN has been a long time in denial, afraid that daring to touch the issue would open it to charges that it is aping Lowell.

Maybe this is not the best way for PN to change around its strategic positioning, but maybe too there is nothing like the present time to effect such a sea-change. I repeat, this must not be done to gain votes, but to see what the country want its PN to be. The country needs a strong Opposition party; just saying Nay to anything Joe Muscat says Aye to is just not enough.

[email protected]